The World Anti-Doping Agency on Thursday gave Kenya a final deadline of May 2 to "bring its program in line with the global code or a review committee will recommend it is declared non-compliant," according to Imray & Mutuota of the AP. WADA said in a statement that an independent compliance review committee met Tuesday and decided Kenya's anti-doping program was still "not in compliance" with WADA's code. The Tuesday deadline "was the second Kenya has missed this year." Unless Kenya has passed doping legislation and formally adopted regulations for its new national anti-doping body by next month, the committee "will ask WADA's board to declare it non-compliant." Although being non-compliant with WADA's rules does not "immediately affect Kenyan athletes, it could spur the IAAF to consider further sanctions, including a possible international ban" (AP, 4/7). REUTERS' Tony Jimenez reported an Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya source said, "We are proceeding to Mombasa to consult with the Parliamentary Committee on Labour and Sports so that when the (new anti-doping) bill comes for a second reading ... we will be on the same page." The bill is a "key requirement" for the east African nation, famed for its distance runners but "tarnished by around 40 doping cases in recent years," to be declared compliant with the WADA code ahead of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in August. The source added, "We have no doubt things will be fine" (REUTERS, 4/7).
MASS TESTS PLANNED: REUTERS' Aaron Maasho reported Ethiopia, one of five countries the IAAF says is in "critical care" over its drug-testing systems, is to carry out doping tests on up to 200 athletes. The east African nation became the "latest country to have its credibility questioned when six of its athletes came under investigation in February for doping." Last month WADA gave Addis Ababa a 10-point guideline, "that included raising its drug-testing capacity to WADA standards, to be implemented by November." Team Doctor Ayalew Tilahun said, "Seventy-five percent of tests will be taken within three months. ... We will move fast. It is a question of life or death for the sport in our country" (REUTERS, 4/7).
